BMW wins Media Tenor DAX30 Reputation Award

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Berlin. October 23, 2013 – BMW has been announced as the winner of this year’s Media Tenor DAX 30 Reputation award in a ceremony held at the German parliament during the 14th annual International Agenda Setting Conference. Over a period of twelve months and on the basis of twelve categories of media image, BMW outperformed its peers. Excelling in communication regarding innovation, products, and customer relations and effectively addressing issues like human resources, BMW won this year’s award after placing as first runner-up last year.

“BMW is clearly the winner this year as they understand the role of communication in melding traditional brand strengths (“Joy of driving”) with sustainability requirements,” says Matthias Vollbracht, head of corporate research at Media Tenor international. Furthermore, reputational risks such as temporary staffing were effectively addressed.

Daimler was tied for first runner-up with Deutsche Telekom. Daimler’s success was based on ongoing communication efforts even as the company faced an uphill battle regarding public perception during part of the analysis period. Daimler communicated successfully on innovations and public affairs.

Deutsche Telekom’s image improved as the company communicated a new vision that emphasizing its ability to deliver products like ultra-high-speed networks and cyber security. It shifted the focus of reporting towards a future based on today’s investments. The effective use of interviews and Op-Eds was helpful.

Volkswagen was the second runner-up. It effectively communicated its product and production strategy. The company addressed innovations like electric cars and successfully managed the fuss around manager compensation in the spring.

For this analysis, a total of 26,938 contributions from 34 opinion-leading media on the DAX 30 companies by trained coders were evaluated between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013.

For over 20 years Media Tenor's mission has been to contribute to objective, diverse and newsworthy news by bringing together the diverse parties who both impact and are affected by the news. Media Tenor's global research projects include analyses of election campaigns, investor relations, public diplomacy, corporate communications and other topics critical to news makers and news audiences. The annual Agenda Setting Conference brings together these diverse constituencies for data-driven workshops, panels, case studies and keynote speeches.